On ADB loan, Pinarayi slams Red ‘fossils’

According to Pinarayi, a section of people, comprising “some Left leaders” and cultural figures, have been opposing the ADB loan only to play to the gallery. “These ideological fossils may get some temporary applause, but this is eventually going to defame the party,” Pinarayi declared at a function at Calicut University. Practical Marxism, he proclaimed, meant taking stances in consonance with differing situations.

Asserting that the loan bid was in sync with policies framed at the CPM’s 18th party congress, Pinarayi claimed those opposing the loan were Left extremists who had no responsibility towards people. “EMS had warned us that both Left extremism and Right Socialism are dangerous. This obviously holds good even today,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Thiruvanantapuram, Pinarayi acolyte and local administration minister Paloli Mohemmed Kutty, the prime mover of the ADB loan deal which was inked behind Achuthanandan’s back, defended his principal secretary SM Vijayanand who did the spadework.

This is while the CM is reportedly considering action against the bureaucrat, after a probe by the state chief secretary decided that he erred by moving the loan papers before the CM had discussed it with his cabinet. Vijayanand had been issued a show cause notice. “If anyone should be penalised, it’s me. All officials involved were merely doing what I had asked them to do. I was in the know at each stage of the effort,” Paloli said.